Wait for US report on Dreamliner

OUR CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Jan. 18: The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today said it was expecting to get an interim report from Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) within a few days on the technical problems of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Almost all the 50 aircraft sold by US-based Boeing have been grounded. “We expect at least a preliminary or an interim report from the manufacturer and the FAA in a couple of days, which might show us the way ahead,” a senior DGCA official said.

Air India, whose turnaround plan hinges on the Dreamliners, has grounded the six aircraft in its fleet.

According to an Air India official, clarity on the technical glitches will only emerge once the interim report is received. He added that the faults they had found with the Dreamliner last year had already been taken care of.

“Our present fleet is not giving us any problem, so we need FAA’s review to ensure that we do not face the problems other airlines had and take care of the flaws immediately,” a senior AI official said.

In August last year, Air India had grounded a Dreamliner because of a problem in the front cargo door. In September, a malfunction was detected in a cooling unit of the plane in Delhi. The cooling unit prevents the power generating equipment of the aircraft from getting overheated.